SINGAPORE: Like many Singaporeans in the past couple of days, Workers’ Party MP Jamus Lim had to endure a traffic jam in order to get to Malaysia.
A trip wherein he followed a group of Sengkang GRC residents to Cameron Highlands for their annual Malaysia trip happened to fall on the first day of school holidays for both Singapore and Malaysia, as well as took place on a weekend. So it meant “double trouble,” he wrote in a Monday morning (Mar 13) Facebook post,” and ended up taking “much longer than we would have liked.”
Nevertheless, the MP appeared to remain optimistic, and added a photo of a “beautiful rainbow along the way up, offset by storm clouds” to his post.
Assoc Prof Lim also offered some observations about Malaysia, which he called a study in contrasts.
“Travelers from Singapore are often frustrated by the relative inefficiency of the customs checkpoints, or shocked if they are asked for a bribe by a police officer. These are reminders of the quality of our bureaucratic service and general incorruptibility of our public officers, something we can be grateful for.”
However, he added that many things Singaporeans take pride in aren’t necessarily unique to Singapore, noting that the public housing flats in Malaysian cities “don’t look all that different from our HDB,” that hawker food in Malaysia is “delicious and cheap,” that despite the traffic, public infrastructure has also gotten better and that the country enjoyed substantial economic growth last year.
“It’s a reminder that the rest of the world doesn’t stand still, and we do need to continually strive to retain our nation’s edge. But by the same token, it’s a reminder that we shouldn’t revel in unfounded Singapore exceptionalism, but rather recognize that what makes us who we are is simply the result of the institutions and cultural choices that we’ve chosen together, as a nation. The result is the unique and colorful palette that is Singapore. Much like rainbows splashed across stormy skies,” he added.
Like Assoc Prof Lim, the weekend traffic affected many Singaporeans.
One TikTok user warned others not to exit at Woodland Avenue 3 due to the “massive jam.”
@jnd_kazoku Dont exit woodland ave 3! #10March #6pm #checkpointjam #schoolholiday
And on the Singapore JB Checkpoints Live Traffic Updates Facebook page, warnings were posted about a “4-hour jam from Tuas to Second Link Malaysia.”
/TISG
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https://theindependent.sg/k-shanmugam-inconsiderate-drivers-who-cut-queues-take-wrong-lanes-add-to-tuas-woodlands-checkpoint-traffic-congestion/